The CMER is in itself an important source of employment on the estate. The timetable necessitates two shifts, six days a week, and one on Sundays. Its permanent staff comprises:

• The Railway Manager.
  • From the inception of the CMER Alexander Ogilvie was both the General Manager and the Chief Engineer, until in 1895 the roles were separated at his request, allowing him to concentrate on the engineering aspects of the railway
    
  • Callum McNeil succeeded Ogilvie in 1895 and served as General Manager until 1914, when he was called to the Front, where he was killed in action in 1917
    
  • Edward Strachan was General Manager from 1914 until his retirement in 1923
    
  • Ross McKendrick succeeded Strachan in 1923 and remains the General Manager to this day.
    

  [*]Four Stationmasters (of Kinlochy, Mains, Clachbeg and Strathan), and four Assistant Station Masters; these also perform dispatching and telegraph duties and manage goods at their stations.

  [*]Two Dispatchers, at Mains

  [*]Two Token Men at Bothy

  [*]Ten Engine Drivers and six Firemen.

  [*]The Chief Engineer with two Assistant Engineers, also responsible for general mechanical repairs around the estate.

  • Alexander Ogilvie was the first Chief Engineer, from 1882 until 1914, when he was called to serve King and Country; he died on the Somme.
    
  • Keith MacBrayne was the Chief Engineer from 1914 to 1922; he had been an apprentice to Ogilvie and took up the post when aged just 16; he left in 1922 to participate in building the Deniliquin and Moama Railway in Victoria, Australia.
    
  • Since 1922 the post of Chief Engineer has been held by Brodie Dalziel.
    

  [*]The Works Engineer, responsible for maintaining the track, with two Linemen, also responsible for other building works and bridges on the estate.

  • John Salusbury Hurt was appointed by Alexander Ogilvie to the post of Construction Engineer in 1881 and served as Works Engineer until his death in a hunting accident in 1901, when he was succeeded by his son, who had been his apprentice since returning from his studies at the University of Glasgow
    
  • Dr John Graham Hurt (known as “Doctor John” to distinguish him from his father) succeeded to the post of Works Engineer in 1901 aged 19 and is still in post today.
    

  [*]Eight Brakemen, who also serve as shunters and perform general lineman duties.

Other estate staff assist as required: for example foresters load timber and act as brakemen on the Woods branch, and one of the McGillivray brothers acts as brakeman on the explosives train.

CMER staff are issued with charcoal jackets with maroon piping and epaulettes and the estate crest on the breast pocket, and with charcoal caps with maroon piping and the estate crest; stationmasters’ caps have maroon peaks.